You Know I Love You
by lollipop1141
Summary: He had opened up to her. He had trusted her with his past. She gave him a second chance, she gave him a way to make up for the things he did in the past. She gave him a future. But she crushed it all in a second. Wildehopps one-shot


**Zootopia is gold and I do it no good justice with this fic. But then again, it's just so good that I had to write one!**

 **Also, this was an inspiration from a fanart in Tumblr by nicolaswildes! Check it out! It's pretty heartwrenching**

 **I hope you like it!**

 ***crowd claps, leaves stage***

* * *

Crushing the golden sticker in his hand, Nick threw it on the floor as he stormed out of the building.

A range of emotion bubbled inside of him. He was angry, hurt, and disappointed. Mostly disappointed, but he opted to focus on anger.

He couldn't believe he let her in. He couldn't believe he let her get to him.

 _Never let them see that they get to you._

He had opened up to her. He had trusted her with his past. She gave him a second chance, she gave him a way to make up for the things he did in the past. She gave him a future.

But she crushed it all in a second.

"Nick!"

His ears flattened as he squeezed his eyes shut, partly from the sharp rays of the sun and partly on ignoring her voice, _pleading_ for him.

He wasn't going to let her get to him.

Never again.

* * *

He knocked on the door of Finnick's van.

"Who is it?!" The fennec fox snarled as he opened the door, only to see his partner in crime standing in front of him. He smirked. "Done playing 'cops'?"

Nick took one look at Finnick and all his anger melted away. Without replying, Nick climbed in the van. Finnick gave him an odd look. "Nick?"

A tremor grew inside Nick. His form quivered in the sheer emotions that he tried to hold inside. But he couldn't. He slammed his fist on the side of the van, before sinking on the floor and letting out a heart-wrenching sob. He gritted his teeth, trying to suppress it, but the tears slid down his fur. He put his head in his hands and let all his pent-up feelings come out.

Here he thought she finally understood him, looked past his fox exterior, his predatory nature, and see him for who he really is. Just Nick Wilde.

He thought she was a friend.

He thought she trusted him.

(Of course she trusted him, a deeper part of his brain said, but he decided to ignore that.)

But in the end, she proved herself to just be like all of them who saw predators as animals to be feared.

Finnick gave him a hard look. "This ain't like you, Nick. You say you're an adult, but now you here cryin' like a cub."

Nick said nothing.

"That bunny cop's a prey. You really think that prey would trust us predators, much less foxes?"

"Judy's different."

"Then why you gotta be mopin' 'round like that?"

"Because I thought she was my friend." Nick said desolately.

* * *

Three months had gone by since that incident. Zootopia had gone from bad to worse. Rising tension between predators and prey grew so high that the ZPD had to take extra caution in making sure the predators weren't attacked by groups of prey. No predators walked around by themselves. Many signs in restaurants and marketplaces banned predators from entering; likewise with predator-owned businesses. Riots were common around the city.

As for Nick Wilde, he had lost the vigor to con animals. Just two days with Judy Hopps's honest and justice oriented personality had made his passion for hustling dissipate. He spent his days just either lying around in Finnick's van, or sitting in the chair underneath the bridge, doing a lot of thinking.

Nick knew Judy would come back. Despite the short time they had spent together, he had got to know her personality. Judy didn't know when to quit. She was that type of mammal. And curse his heart for knowing that he would forgive her if she ever came back.

"Nick!"

Here it comes.

She ran to him, frantic with her discovery. But Nick won't listen.

"I really am just a dumb bunny."

He turned around and gave her his signature smile. "Don't worry, Carrots. I'll let you erase it. After 48 hours."

It felt nice to be able to smile again. It felt nicer to see her smile. It felt amazing to see Judy again.

* * *

They had solved the case, Nick graduated from the Police Academy, and now they were in another stakeout duty.

Judy's eyes were trained on the window of a certain suspect's house whereas Nick just toyed with the radio, skipping songs. But as he looked at his partner, the thought that he had pushed down at the back of his mind began to nag him.

"Carrots, I wanna ask you something."

Judy turned her purple eyes at him, her ears tilting in curiosity. "What is it?"

"Are you still scared of me?" Nick asked.

Her eyes grew wide in shock before looking away in guilt, her ears falling behind her head. There was a twinge of hurt in his chest, but he ignored it.

"I was nine…" Judy said softly. "And since forever, it was my dream of being a cop, of protecting other animals. Gideon Grey had stolen my friends' tickets and I was going to get it back. I was naïve back then, thinking I was strong and invincible with my cop uniform on. But that wasn't the case. Gideon Grey was bigger than me, he had anger issues, and he was a fox."

Nick watched her, stunned into silence. She touched her left cheek where three faint scars ran across, hidden by the thick fur. "He scratched my face and shoved my head on the ground before walking away. I got the tickets, but I also got a scar that day."

"Judy, I-"

"He's okay now Nick." Judy said reassuringly. "I'm okay now. It's all under the bridge."

He wanted to apologize to her in behalf of the fox colony. But she wouldn't want that. As she said, it was all in the past.

"So to answer your question, do I trust you?" She looked at him square in the eyes. "Yes, I do. With my life."

So that was it. He wanted her to trust him, just as he trusts her.

Nick said sincerely, "You know I love you."

Judy smiled affectionately at him. "I know."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!**

 ***crowd claps, leaves stage***


End file.
